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Flea market find carries weight with collectors

Q: I bought this glass paperweight at an antique flea market for $50. I believe it was made by George Mullin who was a glassblower at the Burlington Glass Works and later at the Sydenham Glass Works in Wallaceburg, Ont. It’s a mound of clear glass standing almost seven centimetres high (2.75 inches) and it contains four smaller mounds of glass covered with chips of coloured glass. Floating in the centre is a ribbon of brown glass with the name “W. H. Mead” in white letters.

David, Toronto

A: You got yourself a great buy. These paperweights are sought after by Canadian glass collectors and they’re not easy to find. These personalized paperweights were made for prominent people and merchants. Most of them have a white ribbon with blue lettering and they’ve always been considered Canadian.

There’s a possibility W.H. Mead is William Harrison Mead who had Mead Township in Clark County, Wis., named after him during the 1890s. He was a prominent citizen who farmed and ran a successful lumber business there. One of the Canadian glass houses employing George Mullin may have received a commission to make this for Mead. You’ll be pleased to know your $50 buy is probably worth close to $400.

Q: My wife bought this wooden item at a country auction for $10. Why, I’m not sure. I guess it caught her fancy, but she has no idea what it is or what it does. The big loop is 61 centimetres long (24 inches) and 16 centimetres wide (6.5 inches). It’s in good condition and the nails seem to be hand forged.

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Gary, Bowmanville

A: This is what you’d use to help pull off your boots. It’s called a boot jack, according to Wayne Townsend, curator and director of the Dufferin County Museum and Archives north of Toronto. He told me it would have been used more by a woman than a man, since it has such a small loop, which is the part that grabs the boot.

This is how it worked: You would stand it upright, holding on to the curved end, then wedge your boot into the swiveling, interior teardrop-shaped piece, pulling against it until your boot came off. These were made in the second half of the 1800s and somewhat commercially, which is to say they’re not one of a kind made by an individual.

Finding these mystifying items at country auctions is one of the things that make them worth attending. Value-wise, Townsend suggests this might be priced around $65 at an antique show.

Q: Our old frame church in Limehouse, Ontario was built in 1861. We found this cast iron hanging oil lamp in the church attic, along with five others just like it. It’s unmarked, 91 centimetres tall (36 inches) and the arms, side to side, are 64 centimetres (25 inches).

There are no oil vessels for it. We wonder if it hung on a chain and what kind of oil it used. We hope to find out something about these lamps before our 150th anniversary celebrations in 2011.

Betty Anne, Limehouse

A: These cast iron hanging lamps were commonly used in public buildings in the late 1860s and early 1870s, so it’s no surprise they were in your church attic. The trouble is, the parts that are missing are important and worth far more than the frame itself, which is all you’ve got here.

Originally, there would have been a glass fount on each arm (to hold the kerosene oil) and the burners that go on them, plus shade rings to hold the frosted and clear glass ball shades. If you want to see what they looked like you might check Catherine Thuro’s book, Oil Lamps 3. Some of these lamps came with fittings, consisting of a spring, lever and a brake so they could be easily lowered and raised.

There were several American companies making these during the late 1800s. It wouldn’t be easy to find the missing parts for your lamps, but it is possible if you have the time, patience and the budget. There are reproduction parts available and you could have them wired for electric use if you wanted. As they are, each frame is worth about $200.

John Sewell is an antique and fine art appraiser. To submit an item to his column, go to the ‘Contact John’ page at http://www.johnsewellantiques.ca/www.johnsewellantiques.caEND. Please measure your piece, say when and how you got it, what you paid and list any identifying marks. A high-resolution jpeg photo must also be included. (Only email submissions accepted.) Appraisal values are estimates only.

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